Consumer Briefs

U.S. nursing homes to get rating system

The Bush administration said it would put in place a rating system for nursing homes by the end of the year. It's designed to give consumers another tool to consider when shopping for a nursing home. The ratings would be placed on a government website.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would seek comment from the industry and consumers to determine what criteria to use.

Federal officials also unveiled new regulations that would require all nursing homes to have sprinkler systems by 2013. Homes without sprinkler systems couldn't serve Medicare participants.

INTERNET

EBay to expand PayPal protection

EBay Inc. is expanding the protections available to people who use its PayPal payment service for transactions on EBay's Internet marketplaces.

EBay executives said buyers who pay for items with PayPal would be eligible for full refunds if a seller failed to deliver an item. Previously a buyer's coverage was capped at $200, or $2,000 if the item's seller enjoyed a good reputation on San Jose-based EBay.

EBay sellers who accept PayPal as a payment method -- as nearly all of them do -- will also get unlimited protection against a charge being reversed. Such reversals can happen if a buyer claims not to get an item or if a payment is fraudulently made. Previously sellers' coverage had an annual limit of $5,000, and applied only for shipments to the U.S., Canada and Britain.

FOOD

Grain, fuel costs driving up prices

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said price increases for cereals, baked goods, sweets and poultry would be higher this year than it expected because of accelerating costs for grain and fuel.

The price of cereals and baked goods will rise 9% to 10% in 2008, the most since 1980, the USDA said. The estimate, up from 7.5% to 8.5% in May, doesn't reflect flood damage to Midwest crops, which will be included in a July report, the USDA said.

Retailers are passing higher food prices to consumers as global demand boosts U.S. exports, production is disrupted by harsh weather and more crops are used to make fuel, the USDA said. Corn, wheat, soybeans and rice have reached records this year, while beef, pork and chicken prices rallied.

Although the department left its estimate of overall food-price inflation unchanged at 4.5% to 5.5%, the June revisions "imply that we are in a higher part of the range now," USDA food economist Ephraim Leibtag said. "No company that operates along the food chain is immune from or hasn't felt the effects of high agricultural commodity costs."

RECALLS

Wal-Mart yanks leaded key chains

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is recalling about 39,000 "Hip Charm" key chains made in China because the chain's charms can have high levels of lead, which is toxic if ingested.

An additional 12,000 of these key chains were recalled in April after a child who was mouthing a key chain was discovered to have high blood levels of lead. They were sold at Wal-Mart stores from April 2005 through this month. For more information, call Wal-Mart at (800) 925-6278, or go to www.walmartstores.com or www.cpsc.gov.

From Times Wire Services